Raw Update

Since last posting, my diet has been comprised of almost all raw foods. Social events make it hard to go 100%, but I can usually make it from Monday AM through Saturday afternoon without wavering. And it helps to be dating someone who likes sushi...

A sample day's menu would look like:

7AM - NanoGreens10 and 1 or 2 raw eggs
8AM - 2/3 lbs. raw beef, 2 raw eggs, tbsp. raw honey
11AM - 1 quart raw milk
2PM - 2/3 lbs. raw beef, 2 raw eggs, tbsp. raw honey
4PM - 1 or 2 raw eggs
530PM - 1 quart raw milk
8PM - 2/3 lbs. raw beef, 1-2 oz. raw cheese, 2 raw eggs, tbsp. raw honey

Occasionally I'll add some raw butter to the meat meals, and if I can't seem to fit a feeding in every 3 hours or so I'll pop another 1-2 raw eggs between meals. Same for late night, where I'll often pop 1 raw egg right before bed.

Additionally, I've attempted to include some sweet potato on workout days in a feeding all by itself about an hour after my last meat meal. However, due to work schedule, this can sometimes be as late as 10PM and I'm just not feeling like cooking and eating anything. So instead, I've been letting my 'social' eating on the weekends take care of the planned 'carb ups'.

How do I feel? In a word - AMAZING. I'm impressed with the increase in muscularity without too much added body fat, and it's quite a feeling to down up to a whole pound of raw meat and not even feel full. Raw food is so easily digested by our systems that it takes few resources to deal with large amounts of food. That means our system has the freedom to deal with other things, like recovery from exercise, etc.

At Back2Health, we promote efficient and effective exercise - and while few if any of our clients will follow a raw food diet, the same general philosophy for exercise applies with regard to eating: get the most out of the least.

During the last 3 weeks, I've eaten approximately 80% of my food from raw sources. This means:

• Raw Milk
• Raw Beef
• Raw Honey
• Raw Nuts
• Raw Milk Cheese
• Raw Eggs
  

Since I'm still eating pretty much whatever I want at least until April, the other 20% has been junk (pizza, Thai) along with 1-2 sweet potatoes with dinner on training days - which are clearly cooked. Interestingly, even though the food choices are mainly the same as what I was eating prior to making this move to raw foods, something feels different. I feel 'good'...subjective sounding, I know, but I can't put my finger on exactly what it is at this moment. I thought that by dropping oatmeal and a post-workout glycogen replenishment that I'd 'flatten out' rather quickly, but not so.

In a few weeks, I expect to have a consultation with 'Muscle Smoke & Mirrors' author Randy Roach regarding raw eating. My questions for him will focus on all aspects of this endeavor, but in particular I'm interested in the food groupings. From what I've read so far, it's very different from the typical bodybuilding paradigm of 'carbs with protein' or 'fat with protein' and timing things throughout the day.

One thing I have noticed is the price tag that comes with eating raw - it's expensive! I could easily spend $200/week on food just for myself.

More to follow...

Been a While...

Wow...about 6 mos. since last posting?

We've been pretty busy getting our Boot Camp program off the ground, which so far as been successful beyond our expectations. Between the last posting and early/mid-October 2009, I managed to get myself in perhaps the best shape of my life. Hardest, densest muscularity - to the point of almost hyper-tonus, where muscles were cramping after bouts of exercise - and very, very low body fat (4-5%?). As with any peak, however, it doesn't last forever - wouldn't be a peak if it did - and currently I'm probably 10 lbs. out from that level of conditioning/appearance.

Now, in mid-February, I'm beginning to look ahead to beach season - and the yearly process of shedding excess body fat. One thing I'm considering this year is a shift towards raw food. Last summer/fall, when reaching for the appearance 'peak' described above, I noted very good results w/ increased fat intake via natural/organic foods: cage-free eggs, grass-fed beef, butter, etc. A couple of times in the past few weeks I've eaten both raw red meat, and raw eggs - and with no issues.

A bodybuilder/fitness business owner that both my partner Craig and I respect has recently put on quite a bit of muscle mass via raw food eating. It's important to note that this individual is not just some rookie, but instead a 20+ year veteran of the iron game, and as a result someone very much in tune with his body and it's response to exercise/dietary strategies. So for him to state that eating raw has resulted in quite a noticeable increase in muscle mass certainly legitimizes the idea in my eyes.

Additionally, via the Randy Roach book 'Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors', I learned that many of the old time bodybuilders ate mostly raw, with great results in particular coming from raw dairy: raw milk, raw cream, raw cheeses and butter. Many also included raw meat and eggs here, but the main similarity stood with the dairy aspect. These guys, while having phenomenal genes for sure, also didn't use drugs to attain these physiques - or at least used but did not abuse unlike the monsters of today's bodybuilding world.

Needless to say, reading things on this subject has got my wheels spinning. My goal is to give raw eating a solid chance for about 2 months, April-May, and note the results. Not everything will be raw, but most things. For social reasons, it's probably not possible to go 100% raw without turning into a hermit.

Steps to make this transition include acquiring the raw dairy contacts necessary for regular consumption, and pricing out various qualities of meat. I also have questions as to whether eating B+ grade meat raw (i.e., Trader Joe's no-hormone/no-antibiotics, but still vegetable or grain fed) is better than A+ grade meat cooked (i.e., Whole Foods grass fed beef). The latter is much more expensive, and would make living this lifestyle more difficult.

Hopefully I'll send out an update before 2012...